


The Prince and the Frog

by Lumelle



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-05
Updated: 2014-02-05
Packaged: 2018-01-11 04:42:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1168821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lumelle/pseuds/Lumelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prince Levi wants nothing as much as to ride out to fight titans. However, his father has different ideas. Thankfully, Levi runs into a very strange frog in the garden.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Prince and the Frog

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Daktasinsanity](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daktasinsanity/gifts).



> A birthday present for a friend. Pure AU crack involving frogs. Or, well, at least one.

There were, Prince Levi had come to realize, several clear benefits to practicing his swordsmanship in the palace garden.

For one thing, there rarely were other people there, aside from the occasional gardener or a lady tittering about the roses, and such people always made way for him very quickly. It came with being feared by most everyone in the court, he supposed, but it suited him just fine. He did not have time for social niceties or empty-headed chatter; it was bad enough he had to behave whenever his father marched him out to some occasion or another.

Another benefit of the garden was having plenty of room to maneuver. He knew it was a far cry from the actual battlefields where he would have to use his skills, which would not have such well trimmed grass or straight trees, but it was still better than the practice fields utterly devoid of any distinguishing features. As he made his way to the far ends of the garden there were even small hills and miniature vales, keeping him sharp as he fought against imaginary enemies.

Of course, fighting actual enemies would have been a much better use of his time, but life could not be that kind to him. His dear father had made it very clear that however skilled he was, he would not be seeing the battlefield before he had married; he would not risk losing his sole heir to the jaws of titans otherwise. Levi had little interest in any of the useless women of the court, though, and the very few with skills or smarts he could actually respect had either left the capital for safer places or ridden out to face the titans themselves. None of them would come back, not until the war was over one way or another, and as such he had little hope of seeing battle before the titans were peeking over the walls of the capital itself.

It should not have seemed like such a tempting prospect, really it shouldn't have.

His spot today was even more remote than usual, a small gathering of trees surrounding a shallow pond. At least he thought it was shallow, all the way until his sword slid from his grip at the worst possible moment, plunging itself deep into the water.

"Well, isn't that just great." Levi glared at the water, his sword hidden from view in the depths despite the clarity of the water. "Guess I'll have to start swimming."

"Is something the matter?"

Levi blinked, glancing around. He was certain nobody had approached him; he would have noticed that. And yet, someone was speaking.

"You seem angry, that's all." The same voice, now closer, and quite low to the ground besides. Levi turned his gaze to follow its direction, and found his eyes met by those of a large toad. Frog? He wasn't quite sure what the difference was, but it was ugly either way.

"Not that it's any of your business, but my sword fell into the pond." He sighed, running a frustrated hand over his face. "And if I dive to get it, my father will require an explanation, and then I'll have to deal with another lecture about how unbecoming it is." It was all good and easy for King Erwin to be so stupid; all he did was lead people from afar like so many chess pieces. He just couldn't understand Levi's desire to get out and kill titans with his own hands.

"Oh, that's no problem at all!" Great. Not only was a frog talking, but it was making fun of him, too. "I can go and get it for you!"

Levi snorted. "I highly doubt you could manage that without skewering yourself." Hell, the animal was hardly bigger than the handle of his sword.

"Oh, I can do that." The frog hopped a bit, seeming eager. "And I will, if you will do something for me."

"Oh?" He lifted his eyebrows. "And what is it you need me to do for you?"

"Kiss me." For a moment they stared at each other, the frog unwavering even when faced with Levi's utter disbelief. When it became clear he would not waver, the frog sighed. "Okay, fine. I suppose it'll do if you just let me live in the palace with you."

"And why would you even want to do that? Aren't frogs supposed to like water and flies?"

"Well, yes. But if I'm in the palace, I have much better chances of going out and fighting titans!"

That actually coaxed an amused snort out of Levi. "Fighting titans? And what would you even do if you ever faced them, stick-leg?"

"I don't know, but I sure would kill them all!" The froggy little eyes were sparkling with something akin to determination. "Titans killed my family. All of them, smashed under one big foot! I'm going to have my revenge if it's the last thing I do!"

"Look out and it just might be." Levi shrugged. "Fine. If you can get my sword for me, I will let you live with me. However, I can't promise to get you to the battlefield any time soon."

"Fine with me." The frog hopped into the water, barely making a splash. Levi started to turn away, sure this was the most he was going to see of this hallucination. After all, what else could it be? His own frustrated mind couldn't just imagine someone bringing the sword back to the surface.

Only, not a moment later, the same frog crawled up from the water, dragging his sword behind it.

"There." The frog brought the sword to the edge of the pond, looking at him with a clear sense of accomplishment. "And now, your end of the bargain!"

"Very well." Levi picked up the sword and put it back in its sheath. "Come and follow me, we'll see about getting you settled in the palace." It would certainly still be more pleasant than dealing with some wrinkly old lady trying to convince him that her daughter was the best thing to happen since the walls.

He was pretty sure the frog smelled better than some of the ladies, too.

*

It was a bit strange, learning to share his life with a frog of all things, but Levi adjusted quickly. Whenever he had his meals, he had the servants bring a smaller plate for the frog, set beside him on the table. It had a small bowl of water beside his bed to sleep in, and had all its other needs catered to. The servants seemed to find this strange, but Levi introduced the creature as his pets, and they made do as they always did. His father seemed to find it amusing, but allowed it to continue; no doubt he figured that if Levi was taking on the responsibility of a pet, he might have been growing softer in other was as well, perhaps going so far as to feeling ready for a family. Which was, of course, utter bullshit, but if it comforted King Erwin to think so, that was his problem.

The frog also accompanied him whenever he was practicing fighting, both in the official practice fields and his private sessions in the gardens. To Levi's surprise, it was actually picking up things rather quickly — for a frog, in any case. Perhaps its legs did not do much damage to any opponent larger than a housefly, and would not even be felt by the average titan, but it certainly had determination. In any case, it was much more pleasant company for conversation than the people he was usually forced to suffer with, given their mutual interests of going out to kill titans.

It took the frog some time to realize that no, the prince was not about to ride out into war. As it finally did notice this, though, it wasted no time in bringing it up.

"So what's the matter?" And that was a rather angry tone from someone Levi could have squashed with one boot. "Too much of a coward to go out and slice up something else than roses?"

Levi snorted. "If it were up to me, I would have been out there at the first sightings," he replied. "However, in case you missed it, my father is the king."

"And what does that have to do with anything?" The frog thumped the floor with one small leg. It made a surprisingly loud sound.

"Well, it does mean that if he says I can't go, I can't go. I'm recognizable enough that I would be noticed right away, and I would rather not fight my way through our own people and cutting down the forces who could be fighting titans instead of me."

"So you wouldn't kill humans to get at titans?"

"What is the point of taking down titans if I kill humans to do so? I want to kill them so humans can be safe, not just because I like fighting." Levi shrugged. "I'm a soldier, not a murderer. As long as I can't reach the battlefield without slicing my way through our own forces, I'm effectively stuck here."

"Right." The frog paused. "So why don't you marry, then?"

Levi snorted. "There's nobody around here who is worth my time," he said. "I'd rather marry you than any of the available ladies of the court. They're not concerned with anything but their own comfort. The only reason they even care about titans is that they fear the war may make it more difficult for them to get good food and fine clothes."

"So even I would be better, huh?" The frog tilted its head to the side. It was a somewhat disconcerting sight when it had no neck to tilt it with. "And what would you do if I found you someone to marry who is not as displeasing as those ladies?"

Levi raised his eyebrows. "Well, what is it you want this time?"

"Kiss me."

He looked at the frog in blank disbelief. "I believe I made my stand on that clear already."

"No, trust me, this time it's the only choice. It's not that I'm just desperate for a kiss or anything, geez! Just, give it a try. If I can't immediately solve your problem, you can just run me through with your sword or something."

"Well, aren't you confident." He paused, then held out his hand. "Fine. It can't be any more disgusting than the latest candidate my father marched out for me to see. I think she wasn't even clear on the difference between titans and trees."

The frog hopped onto his hand without hesitation. Levi was not as fast, pausing for a moment before bringing the frog up to be level with his face. It took him a moment to come over his revulsion, but he finally leaned forward, pressing his lips against the cold, clammy skin of the frog.

There was a puff of smoke, or perhaps steam, and a great cry of what sounded like pain. Levi stumbled back, staring as the frog dropped onto the floor, only to immediately start growing. Tiny arms stretched out, legs straightened, a neck appeared where one hadn't been visible before. The slimy skin became significantly softer and cleaner, a pale expanse reaching to cover every last inch of the new, strong body.

"Finally!" The man before him — because, yes, it was a man, not a gigantic frog — pumped his fist up in the air. "The curse's gone! Now I can actually go out and fight titans!"

"Wait." Levi narrowed his eyes. "This was a curse? All this time a kiss could have set you free?"

"Yes! Well, not just any kiss. It had to be from a prince, obviously, otherwise it would have been far too easy."

"Oh, yes. Because it would have been so easy to convince just anyone to pucker up and kiss a frog." He sighed. "You didn't care to mention this before?"

"Well, you'd made your opinion clear, I wasn't sure if this would have changed your mind." The man scratched his head with a grin. "So, uh, hi! My name's Eren, Eren Jaeger. Not sure if I mentioned it before; people don't exactly expect frogs to have names."

"You don't say." Levi looked at him impassively. "Let me guess. Your brilliant solution is that now that you are no more a frog, you could marry me and we can go out to war together?"

"Obviously! You did say you'd rather have me than any of the court ladies, didn't you?"

"I suppose I did." Levi paused. "Perhaps we'd first like to find you some clothes, though."

The squeaking noise Eren did as he realized his own state of nudity was perhaps not a frog's croak, but it was approximately just as amusing.

*

"I really don't see what your problem is," Levi told his father, checking his swords for the last time. "You said I could ride out once I was married."

"I know I said that," Erwin replied, a hand on his hip. "And we both know this isn't what I meant."

"Oh, I don't know. This seems to be in perfect accordance to your conditions." Levi looked over to where Eren was going over his equipment as well. "We are married, by law and custom. I don't see any problems."

"You know perfectly well the purpose of my condition was so that you would have an heir before riding out to get yourself killed."

"And? In that case you should have made that your stipulation, not the marriage." Levi gave his father a brief smirk. "And anyway, it's not a problem as long as I don't get killed, now is it?"

"You're getting cocky."

"I know what I'm capable of." Levi turned to his husband. "So? How many titans are we going to kill?"

Eren flashed him a bloodthirsty grin, one that he found it all too easy to return. "All of them."

Yes. Yes, that sounded just about right.


End file.
